Leading delivery companies are struggling with drivers for meal delivery services as the demand keeps increasing. While Uber has publicly talked about demand outpacing the company’s capacity, given the number of drivers, DoorDash said “undersupply of Dashers” is partly the reason for its losses. 

Meanwhile, Grubhub on Monday said that it will offer Perks, like redeemable for free food, if orders did not arrive on time. The move came as the online food delivery company was responding to the growing frustrations among customers over the slow delivery timings amid the labour shortage. 

With the growing customer demands for meal delivery, companies are compelled to find alternatives to the traditional models of deliveries. 

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Some restaurants, like Pizza hut, Starbucks and El Pollo Loco, last year tried out delivery orders via drones, sending people food to their backyards.  

CEO and co-founder of Flytrex, the drone delivery company, Yariv Bash thinks there is no better way of food delivery, He told PYMNTS, “If we’re talking specifically about restaurant meals, there’s no better way.”

The labour is too expensive while self-driving cars don’t “make sense in terms of volume and size and weight,” and sidewalk robots are too slow for meal delivery, Yariv Bash told PYMNTS. 

Once the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) gives approval to backyard drone deliveries, they will “explode even faster than those mobility scooters that popped up in major cities in the past few years,” he said. 

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Meanwhile, a 2019 survey has said that half of 821 consumers, living in an FAA-approved test site unmanned aircraft systems (UAS, or drones), said drone delivery is “a great deal,” while 87% liked these deliveries at least “a little.” While 89% of respondents at least “somewhat likely” to try drone delivery systems. 

While major restaurants are seeking alternatives, many online food delivery companies, such as DoorDash, Uber, and Grubhub have reported losses in recent quarters. GrubHub and Doordash reported loss per share while Uber reported negative adjusted EBITDA for its delivery segment, PYMNTS said.